Do Not Start Playing This HTML5 Drum Machine If You Have Anything To Accomplish Today

A few months ago we told you about the insanely addictive HTML5 Drum Machine, which allows you to craft beats right in your browser. That was rad. The new HTML-909 Rhythm Composer has now arrived to consume your attention. Warning: It's fun.

Whereas the original HTML5 Drum Machine was modelled after the legendary Roland TR-808, the HTML-909 is modelled, you guessed it, on the equally legendary Roland TR-909.

If you mess around with it for a little while, you'll be surprised at how quickly you're able to put together something that sounds dangerously close to listenable. For those who don't know how it it works, here's a brief intro: The buttons across each represent a "step" in the ever-looping timeline of sequence. Pick an instrument from the list at the top and push a button -- it will play at that point in the loop. You get a different independent timeline for every instrument. You can also save up to 16 different patterns in this machine at one time, which winds up leaving you with a lot of possibilities. Throw a dance party!

In particular, I like that this little drum machine introduces decay parameters for several instrument. This allows you to control how quickly an instrument's sound fizzles out.